Play Borderlands 2 on Linux

A simple tutorial on how to play Borderlands in Ubuntu 12.04 and other distributions

Borderlands 2 on Linux

Borderlands 2 is by far one of the best person shooters released this year and probably the single, greatest cooperative experience to date. But what if we want to play it on Linux?

Playing games designed for Windows, on Linux, has proven to be quite difficult in the past, but recently, with the latest advances made by Wine (Wine is not an emulator), things have gotten a lot easier.

Keep in mind, for this tutorial to work, you will need to be root on the computer, so don't mess with your friend's PCs.

First off all, you are going to need Wine, which is a software that aims to provide Linux users the “luxury” of running Windows software.

This test has been done in Ubuntu 12.04 LTS, but it might work in other operating systems. Just adjust the commands accordingly. Usually, the distributions have Wine in their repository, but it's rarely at the latest stable version. To get this version, just enter the following commands in terminal:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntu-wine/ppa

sudo apt-get install wine1.4

Now that we have Wine installed, we're going to do a little bit of tweaking. Type Wine in Ubuntu Dash and select Configure Wine.

In the first window that opens, select the operating system as Windows XP. Then move to the Graphics tab and place a checkmark on “Allow the Window Manager to decorate the windows,” on “Allow the window manager to control the windows,” and "Emulate a Virtual Desktop" (preferably with the resolution of 1280*1024, but it can vary, depending on the monitor size).

Borderlands 2 requires Steam to work, so you’re going to have to install this application. Download the package and install it, preferably from a terminal:

wine SteamInstall.msi

Now that Steam is installed, log in and install Borderlands 2, through the application. Right click on the Borderlands 2 entry and select Properties, followed by Set Launch Options. Add -NoLauncher into the field and press OK.

Go to the Home directory, press CTRL, select .Wine, followed by drive_c, and Program Files. Navigate to the Borderlands 2 folder, which is usually in Steam\steamapps\common\Border­lands 2\Binaries\Win32.

Inside, create steam_appid.txt file and place the number 49520. Now open a terminal, navigate to the same folder, and write the following command, with Steam still running:

wine Borderlands2.exe

The reason we're launching the game from a terminal is simple. If Wine or the game crashes, it's a lot easier to close them just by closing the terminal. After the game installs a few other prerequisites, Borderlands 2 will start and you can start playing.